7/23/2014 - Grand Marshals Chosen for 5th Annual Huntington Awareness Day Parade
World champion boxer Chris Algieri and longtime community leaders Anthony Mastrioanni and Thomas Jerideau will be honored as grand marshals when the Fifth Annual Huntington Awareness Day parade kicks off on Saturday, September 6.
First held in 2010, Huntington Awareness Day has become an annual tradition, with thousands of people turning out to celebrate the community’s unity, diversity and solidarity.
As in previous years, bands, floats, vintage cars, service groups and local merchants will join the march down New York Avenue through Huntington Station from West Hills Road to the pedestrian plaza at Olive Street. Following a brief ceremony, everyone will cross New York Avenue to the fair in the municipal parking lot between Railroad and Church Streets. The fair will include performances by local artists and booths offering crafts and services. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. and the fair will remain open until 5 p.m.
This year’s honorees span different generations and areas of expertise. Algieri, 30, grew up in Huntington and graduated from St. Anthony’s High School, where he captained the varsity wrestling team and later served as an assistant coach. He graduated from Stony Brook University, with honors, with a degree in health care management and later earned a master’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology. A kickboxer in college, Algieri won the International Sport Karate Association’s Welterweight and World Kickboxing Association Super Welterweight Championships before retiring as a kickboxer to take up prizefighting.
He currently has a record of 20-0 as a professional prizefighter, including a unanimous decision over ranked contender Emmanuel Taylor at the Paramount Theater in February and his biggest victory, on national television June 14, in which he defeated Ruslan Provodnikov at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to become the WBO Light Welterweight Champion. Last week, he signed to fight the legendary Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 22 in Macau, China, for Pacquiao’s world welterweight title.
Mastrioanni, 83, is a longtime Huntington Station resident who has had distinguished careers in the public, private and political sectors, most notably serving several terms as Huntington Republican chairman and as Suffolk County’s public administrator. A Korean War veteran, he is a charter member and past national vice commander of the Navy Seabee Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A graduate of SUNY Farmingdale (he also holds a master’s degree from Long Island University’s C.W. Post College), he served for more than three decades as a member of the college’s council, including stints as its vice chair and acting chair. He is a former member of the board of directors of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce.
Jerideau, 85, retired from the New York City Transit Authority more than 30 years ago, and since then has been active in many panels and civic activities, beginning with his appointment in 1982 to the Town’s Mass Transit Citizen’s Advisory Council, which he later chaired. He has been a member of the Huntington African American Task Force, the Huntington Station Revitalization Task Force and, for the past 21 years, a member and chair of the Town’s Board of Assessment Review. He is also the longtime president of the Whitman Village Cooperative Board and has worked to help make the Huntington Awareness Day fair possible
“Huntington is proud of the contributions Chris, Tony and Tom have made to our Town and we are thrilled that they will be leading the annual parade celebrating the community we all love,” Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone said. “I hope people will line New York Avenue to show their appreciation, and then visit the fair that gets bigger and better every year.”
“Through the generosity of our sponsors and from other donations, we have been able to keep all events and rides free of charge, so everyone in the community can enjoy this special day,” said Dolores Thompson, who co-chairs the event with Supervisor Petrone. “It is also gratifying to see that an event that started five years ago as a single expression of community pride has now become an annual tradition.”
Persons can obtain details about sponsorship or parade participation and download the forms at the website www.huntingtonawareness.org, They can also obtain updates about the parade and festival by “liking” the Unity in the Community-Huntington Awareness Day Facebook page or (www.facebook.com/HACPHuntingtonAwarenessDay) or by following @HuntingtonDay on Twitter.
Those interested in becoming a parade sponsor, entering a float in the parade or reserving vendor space can also contact Dolores Thompson at 631-470-0636 or by sending an email to Jarvis762vanderbilt@aol.com.